Lunenburg County man charged with assaulting baby daughter

BRIDGEWATER — A Lunenburg County man has been charged with assault causing bodily harm and endangering his infant daughter’s life by failing to provide her the necessities of life.

Ryan Nathan Fogg, 20, of Hermans Island Road, is also charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm for sleeping with his baby on his chest.

Lunenburg District RCMP won’t say what injuries the baby girl suffered, but did say the child, now nearly seven months old, is doing fine.

“She has made a complete recovery,” said Const. Dyson Smith.

He said the police investigation began after the baby’s mother showed up at Fishermen’s Memorial Hospital in Lunenburg with her injured child on Oct. 1, 2012. The girl was not yet three months old at the time.

“Upon seeing the types of injuries, the hospital transferred the child up to the IWK (Health Centre) where the child abuse unit began an investigation,” Const. Smith said. “The injuries were serious in nature and deemed as suspicious by practitioners.”

The officer said it took a while to lay charges because police had to apply to get medical records from the hospital and then medical experts had to interpret those records so that police could determine if there was enough evidence to warrant charges.

Fogg briefly appeared in provincial court in Bridgewater Wednesday morning. He told Judge Gregory Lenehan that he applied to have a legal aid lawyer but was turned down.

Lenehan urged Fogg to take the time to speak with a lawyer saying, “these are extremely serious matters” that carry “significant consequences if you are found guilty.”